Falcon nest on Monarch Place featured on CBS3 Springfield webcam

View full sizeCourtesy of CBS3A peregrine falcon sits on 4 eggs in its nest on a ledge on the 21st floor of Monarch Place in this screen capture of the Falcon Cam on the CBS3 website.

SPRINGFIELD - Anyone interested in getting an up-close look at the peregrine falcon nest on the 21st floor of Monarch Place need only to log onto the Internet.

CBS3 Springfield, the media partner for The Republican and Masslive.com, at 2 p.m. Tuesday launched a webcam dedicated to the nest. The webcam, located on the CBS3 website, provides continuous real-time broadcast quality footage of the falcons.

Station news director David Ward said the site had only been up for a few hours when it started to really take off among viewers.

"People are checking it out and so far, both the mother and father have been flying in and out to sit on the eggs. During the switch you can see four eggs." he said.

Ward said the web cam will provide a continuous feed until at least later in the spring.

"We plan on leaving it up through the hatching and maybe even until the little ones fly the coop," he said.

"Over all this is a fun thing to share with the community," he said.

"Since this bird was once on the endangered species list, it's a chance to see a little bit of nature up close and personal," Ward said. "It's not that often that you can get or provide a front-row seat to nature like this."

Ward said the station made a move to get a webcam installed after hearing from people in the building that the nest had four eggs and hatching was just days away.

Photo coutesy of CBS3 SpringfieldFour falcon eggs in the nest on the 21st floor of Monarch Place await hatching

With the help of Monarch Place management, CBS3 installed a high-quality camera inside a room looking out on the nest on the 21st floor and ran the appropriate cables down to their studios on the 3rd floor, Ward said.

Use of the pesticide DDT after World War II nearly wiped out falcons and other birds of prey in much of the United States. The chemical, which was finally banned in 1972, caused the birds to lay eggs with deficient shells.

It wasn't until 1987 that any active falcon nests were discovered in Massachusetts when one was found in Boston. Two years later, the first Western Massachusetts nest appeared on Monarch Place.

A permanent nesting box was attached to the 21st floor ledge to safeguard the eggs and the young, and over the years, more than 30 young were produced at the nest by different sets of parents.

More recently, the birds left Monarch Place, choosing to set up nests in the arches under the Memorial Bridge from 2008 to 2011.

In previous years when the nests were at Monarch Place, Comcast would broadcast footage from the nest over one of the local-access cable channels.

With the return of the nests to Monarch Place, Comcast is said to be interested in resuming the cable broadcasts. A company spokeswoman on Wednesday said she would have to check to see what the status of the project is.